Netbooks The Low Cost Solution

From Rio Hondo Social Science Faculty

Today on the drive home I was listening to the show marketplace on public radio. The following story caught my attention and made me think of online education. One of the arguements against online education at Rio Hondo is that our students can not afford these classes due to the fact that computers are too expensive. The following story "netbook sales bigger than expected" on how Netbooks are outselling regular laptop computers due to their low cost. What is a Netbook? These are smaller cheaper laptops that are made with last generation microchips. They are mainly designed to be used for email and surfing the Internet. The cost of a Netbook is around or less than $300. It is time to rethink the cost argument when some textbooks are as expensive as a Netbook. We may even consider buying Netbooks and renting them out to students.